Introducing baby Buttercup! (lots of pics)

biochemnerd808

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We have had Buttercup for a little over a month now, and she is such a spunky little Marginated gal!
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I named her 'Buttercup' after my husband called her a 'margarine tortoise' - if she ever gets a boyfriend, we will call him Wesley ;)
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(I am fully aware that it is technically too early to tell whether she is female or male... she was temp sexed female, but we won't know for several years).
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I got her from a private breeder here in our area, and he kept her for the first 9 months. He did a great job raising her - she is beautiful, healthy, and has only veeeeery minimal pyramiding.
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She hatched on Thanksgiving day 2012, so she is almsot a year old. She weighs 68g, and is gaining steadily (she was 60g a month ago). She is such a good little eater.
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I feed her the same home-grown mixture of dark leafy greens (both from my yard and my friend's yard) that my other tortoises do so well on. She is not picky at all, and I don't have to chop anything up.
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Buttercup is my first 'non rescue' tortoise, and it's kind of fun to start out with a healthy tortoise. She self-soaks (although I still soak her daily for 20 mins, since she is still so small), and she even helps herself to her cuttlebone or her little milk-bottle-cap of calcium powder!
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Here is a picture of her gorgeous Momma. The Mom was purchased as a captive bred hatchling 8 years ago. She is huge, and healthy. It was fun to get to meet her and see the set-up.
Marginated Mom.jpg
I will post pictures of the tortoise nursery in the next few days - I have 1 set up indoors, and 1 outdoors. She spends most days outside (with frequent mistings, and I move the enclosure around depending on where the sun is), and even some nights if it's warm. Her breeder did this, too, so she is accustomed to our climate.
 
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tortadise

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Awesome. I like the princess bride reference. great film. Margies are great tortoises.
 

BeeBee*BeeLeaves

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Ohhhhh, Katie! Darling tortoise and darling name. Especially from being what your husband said. LOL! A lucky tortoise to be with you, for sure. Yay! : )
 

alysciaingram

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I LOVE the princess bride! It's one of those movies that if you stop it at any given point in time, I will be able to say the next line..

Beautiful little tortoise you have :)
 

biochemnerd808

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Thank you everyone! :) We just love her (well, mostly I do - the kids and the hubby are a little less tortoise crazy than I am). ;)

Time will show if the care I'm giving her will result in nice smooth growth - it should, in theory... there isn't much info on marginated tortoises, but going off of what is recommended for Greek babies seems to be working well. :) Humidity, good food, calcium and natural sunlight seem to be key.
 

bouaboua

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OK. This is the BIG sister. She(he?) is cute.
 
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